Hunter
by Alasdair H
Summary: In May of 2012, the Avengers Initiative was the main focus of S.H.I.E.L.D., whilst over at the Academy of Science and Technology, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons crammed for their final exams. Everyone's focus on revision and good grades is allowing a growing threat to go unnoticed. With more than just their grades at stake, can Leo and Jemma stop the mysterious threat?
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy of Science & Technology is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s teaching facility for some of the promising scientific minds in the world. There they learn all the necessary skills they may need as a S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist, both in the lab and the field.

Jemma Simmons sat in the Academy's sleek, modern library panic studying for tomorrow's exam. The library was the perfect place to go to avoid distractions and the neutral but unremarkable shades of greys and white which covered the walls, ceilings and floors helped Jemma keep her attention on studying. Jemma was a brilliant bio-chemical student at the Academy, so brilliant that she was about to graduate 3 years early. Tomorrow's exam was hugely important – it was the final for her speciality.

"Fitz!" she called.

She was careful not to shout too loudly but it was 11pm and the library was almost completely empty so she doubted that she was bothering anyone.

Leo Fitz was searching through the book shelves as he and Jemma had an upcoming test run for their joint project. Leo was another highly gifted Academy student. He had skipped 3 years with Jemma, although he was in a different field, he was an engineer. Jemma and Leo were so close that they had their own, rather unimaginative, nickname – FitzSimmons. Together they had created a drone that was wirelessly automated to retrieve forensics, or D.W.A.R.F. for short. They had to test the functionality of Swift, their latest prototype, before their presentation.

As Jemma's best friend, Leo knew her tone, he had to get her a cup of her favourite lavender earl grey tea. Jemma was a stereotypical English person in that she really loved her tea. Fitz had never found cultural stereotypes to be entirely accurate though as despite him being Scottish, he hated haggis, just the idea of it made his stomach turn. He grabbed the book he had been searching for, rolled up the sleeves of his grey cardigan and rushed off back to Jemma.

Leo arrived back at the study area that he & Jemma were using. Study Booth 3 was their regular study area and looked just like a small awning roofed booth. He saw that Jemma was engrossed in one of her neat stacks of study notes.

"It's just not going in Fitz!" she exclaimed, clearly exasperated.

She rested her head in her hands with her tightly tied ponytail resting on her deep blue blouse covered shoulder. Jemma was usually like this before an exam, she knew the subject inside out but she always got really worked up. Leo reached into his bag to get the tea and the filter that he carried in his bag at exam time. He placed the small metal filter over the cup and poured in the tea leaves.

"Here you go" Leo passed the cup to Jemma.

"Thanks Fitz" she replied as she looked up to see the tea.

She could always count on him to cheer her up.

"How's your studying going?" enquired Jemma.

"Not too bad. Fortunately I found that Jet Propulsion Systems book I wanted."

Their previous D.W.A.R.F., Nifty, couldn't stay in the air for more than three seconds. Prior to that, Jumpy was ironically unable to take off at all so Leo was determined to fix the propulsion issues. If Swift impressed at their upcoming presentation, FitzSimmons were proposing to create eight D.W.A.R.F.s, each with its own capabilities and purpose and named after Snow White and her animated dwarven friends. For the prototypes, they were using rejected names from the 1937 classic. Jemma took a sip of her tea.

"Ahh, that's calming me down already. Just what the Doctor ordered."

Leo smiled, he loved a good pun.

"Just stay calm and remember that you can do this, you just need to remember that you're the best at what you do" Leo tried to reassure her whilst steering the focus back to calming Jemma's nerves.

"Being good at what I do is an indirect correlation to performing well in a test Fitz! In a test you have to consider writing and memory speed, time constraints, lack of resources..."

"But think of all the achievements you've won. It's the most in the school." Leo interrupted.

If he hadn't stopped her she could create quite a list. He had learned that the hard way.

"I only have a few more than you. In fact the only reason you're not number one is because of Hunter" Jemma regretted that last line as soon as she said it, she knew how Leo felt about Hunter.

Leo's eyes rolled back in his head. Rachel Hunter was a genius engineer, much like Leo. She achieved some of the highest marks in the class just as he did. That was the problem. When they first met at the Academy Leo and Rachel had got along quite well, however as soon as they spoke about their entry tests their friendship turned sour. Leo had achieved one of the highest percentages on his entry test in the history of the academy's engineering department, beating Rachel by only a few percent. Rachel instantly grew jealous of Leo, she wasn't used to coming second to anyone. Since then Rachel had become more and more competitive with Leo at exam time every year and Leo worked hard to ensure he beat her whenever he got the chance. They both received many accolades as recognition of their brilliance and performance. With Rachel even being allowed to skip 3 years in the Academy along with Leo, much to his disappointment.

"Sorry Fitz, I shouldn't have brought her up" apologised Jemma.

"It's okay Jemma" he replied as he shrugged off the thoughts of his ongoing competition with Rachel.

The two of them sat there in silence, they were far past that milestone in a friendship where they could happily sit in silence together. Jemma looked back down at her books and continued taking notes while Fitz buried his nose in his recently found book.

Leo looked up from his book at his watch. Had that much time really passed? It was almost 2am!

"Jemma, we should probably head back to our dorms now. Your exam is in 8 hours."

"You're right Fitz, a good night's sleep is a very significant factor in exam performance. Far too many people overlook its importance."

Leo and Jemma packed up their things and left the library, taking a short detour to return the book Leo had borrowed. They headed back to their separate dorm rooms which were fortunately just down the corridor from one another.

As he lay in bed that night Leo couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned, hoping that Jemma was having better luck getting to sleep than him. He was far too worried about her to sleep, seeing her so stressed and worried was truly painful for him. He loved Jemma but despite their level of friendship where he could tell her anything and everything, he could ironically never tell her that without risking losing her.

In her dorm, Jemma also lay awake. She was often anxious before an exam but now she had a strange and horrible feeling. She put it down to the importance of the exam. Jemma double checked that she had set her alarm and settled down for some sleep. She was determined to get at least a few hours.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

Jemma awoke in a cold sweat. She had an awful dream during the night. She kept telling herself it was just pre-exam nerves but deep down she knew that it wasn't. That feeling in the pit of her stomach hadn't gone away, it was even worse now than before. She thought about calling Leo but it was probably too early. Wait, what was the time? Her alarm hadn't gone off. Had she forgot to set it? Had the batteries died? No, it was ten to eight and her alarm wasn't due to go off for another ten minutes. Well she certainly couldn't call Fitz at this time! She had kept him up until 2am, she owed him the chance to lie in, even though he'd be annoyed that he'd miss their pre-exam ritual.

Just before every exam, Leo and Jemma would go out for some hot chocolate at their favourite campus coffee house, 'CH', at the library. Every time, Leo would get a large white hot chocolate with whipped cream and milk chocolate sauce, or as he called it a 'Hot Chocolate Squared'. That's engineers for you, always trying to put things in mathematical terms!

Maybe, if she went to the coffee shop and got their drinks then she could take it to Leo and they could keep up their tradition. After all, what is life without little traditions? Some traditions had become major parts of modern day society, like Valentine's Day and Christmas. A pre-exam hot chocolate wasn't a national holiday but it was important to them and that's all that really mattered.

Jemma got up out of her bed and headed for the shower. She didn't have long to get ready and get the drinks before her exam.

Leo woke up to someone knocking on the door. Four knocks every time. There's only one person that could be.

He rolled out of bed and wandered lazily over to the door in his checked boxers. He checked through the peephole. There was Jemma, standing holding two coffee cups from CH. He reached over for the green t-shirt hanging on his bedpost and after pulling it on, he opened the door.

"Good morning Fitz!" Jemma grinned at him.

"Morning" Leo managed to muster in response.

Jemma thrust the hot chocolate at him, he had clearly just woken up. Just after he woke, Leo was always very drowsy, often coming off as grumpy but that's only because he couldn't quite hold a conversation yet. This was perfect for Jemma, she had been desperate to tell Leo all about her terrifying dream. She sat down on Leo's desk chair, fixing her tan trousers as she did.

"Fitz, I had a horrible nightmare last night. Do you mind if I talk to you about it?" Jemma had a slight tremble in her voice which would go unnoticed by most, but not Leo, despite how tired he was.

"No, course not" Leo mumbled as he fell back onto his bed.

She tugged lightly at the collar of her white shirt.

"Well it all started when I was lying in bed, trying to get to sleep. I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach."

"The last thing I remember is them about to tear you apart while I watched" Jemma finished.

Leo sat bolt upright on his bed. He may not have been fully awake at the start of the story but by the time Jemma got to his almost-demise, he was listening closely to every detail.

"Wow, that sounds crazy Jemma" said a surprised Fitz, "I didn't die did I?"

"You probably would have if I hadn't woken up" Jemma nodded as she spoke.

Leo gulped.

"Oh don't worry Fitz, I'm sure it wasn't some sort of premonition. That sort of thing isn't even possible" she paused, "anyway Fitz, I better head off to my exam now."

Jemma wanted to leave herself enough time to get to the exam hall with a little time to spare before the exam actually started. She stood up and headed for the door.

"Do you want me to meet you outside after it?" Leo asked although he knew the answer already.

"Of course Fitz. We can go and have some lunch afterwards" Jemma enthused as she pulled open the door.

"Okay, well I'll see you later then. Good luck!" wished Leo as Jemma left.

"Thanks" Jemma she called from the corridor.

The door shut behind her and Leo was alone again. He was really concerned about Jemma's dream, mainly because he died in it. He put it to the back of his mind because the D.W.A.R.F. test run was tomorrow and he needed to do some more reading.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

"Good, quarter to one."

He was early.

Leo had just left his dorm room and was heading to meet Jemma after her exam. Jemma never ever left an exam early because she liked to stay in and check her work. Leo had a different attitude though – he would happily leave an exam early if he felt fairly confident and had checked his work a couple of times over.

He emerged from the artificially lit hallways of the student accommodation and walked out into the blindingly bright sunlight that had engulfed the campus. That was the only problem with having exams and projects in May, you always missed out on more than a few sunny days but maybe he and Jemma could have lunch outside in order to make the most of it.

As he was walking through the modern campus, he could only admire the way that the sun hit the buildings. On an ordinary day the steel grey colour of the buildings made the entire campus look a bit cold and heartless but in the dazzling sunlight he could see true beauty in their design. Leo looked down from admiring the architecture and nearly tripped, scuffing his navy converse even more.

Should he turn around and quickly rush back? Should he duck into the nearest building for cover? Or should he just continue walking to meet Jemma? After all he was doing nothing wrong. He ran his fingers through his short curly brown hair.

The source of Leo's dilemma was, of course, none other than Rachel Hunter. There she was, phone in hand, walking towards him in a blouse so red it could've been considered camouflage on a classic London bus. Her black hair, normally straight and brushing around her shoulders, was being blown in her face. She had to keep sweeping it back with her manicured milky-skinned hand. Leo prayed that her hair blocked her view enough so that she didn't see him. As soon as his thought had finished though he realised she'd seen him. Her smile had turned into a grimace.

"Hi Leo!" Rachel's red lips faked a smile.

"Hello Rachel" Leo lazily responded as he rolled his eyes.

"Where's your precious girlfriend?" taunted Rachel as she swept her hair around one shoulder.

"Jemma is not my girlfriend" Leo retorted angrily although he had dreamed of the day he could take the 'not' out of that sentence.

"But she's a girl and she's your friend right?" she asked rather seriously.

"Yes" Leo groaned, he knew where this was going.

"Well there you go" she said very purposefully, like she had just proved a brilliant theory wrong.

"No, that's not..."

"So how's your project coming along?" she cut him off, she must have been bored of that conversation.

"It's going well thanks, yours?" Leo asked, he was always too polite with Rachel.

"I'm doing excellently. My project has been called some brilliantly innovative work so I'm sure it's much better than yours. Remember, you can only do your best."

Rachel started to turn and walk away.

"Don't put too much pressure on yourselves, you'll never beat me anyway" she giggled as she left, almost skipping away.

She always had to have the last word. Not only did Rachel think she was the best in her field, and many others, but she was ridiculously childish. Her taunts, although annoying to Leo, didn't worry him. He could beat her no problem. Just because she thought she was the best didn't mean that she actually was. Leo would prove that to her once and for all with his new invention but now it was time to think about Jemma, her exam and their lunch. Leo looked at his watch, he hadn't factored in time for a pointless chat with Rachel. It was just before five to one so he still had just enough time to get there.

"Time's up!" came the shout from the strict lecturer that signalled Jemma's exam was over.

She put down her pen and neatly piled all of her papers on the desk. The exam hadn't gone as badly as she thought it would. Jemma often felt that way because she usually went into an exam panicking even though she managed to keep her composure in front of most people.

"Once someone collects your paper, you're free to go" the lecturer called.

He seemed keen to make sure everyone exited smoothly.

Jemma was used to the processes of exams though, as she was sure most students were, the process had barely changed since high school. The only differences here were the difficulty of the exams and the lecturers who replaced invigilators as this was a high security S.H.I.E.L.D. facility after all.

Jemma sat patiently at her desk waiting for the lecturer to come but she knew she could be in for a long wait. She was seated only a few rows from the back of the exam hall, because of her second name, and there were usually at least a couple of students who hadn't written their personal details on the paper and kept the lecturer waiting while they did. The lecturer arrived at her desk surprisingly quickly, she had got lucky with the row she was in. As he lifted the exam papers off of the desk Jemma felt like a huge weight was being lifted off of her shoulders. She had done all she could do and felt fairly happy with her performance. She stood up from her desk as soon as the lecturer had moved on and hurried down to the front of the hall to get her back. The next question of what she would have for lunch was so trivial, at least in comparison with her exam.

Leo had made it to the exam hall with time to spare and was busy dreaming about burgers when he was interrupted by the doors to the exam hall suddenly flying open and students steadily pouring out of the hall.

He pressed himself up against the wall to avoid being swept away by the river of students as they babbled about what questions they had done, where they'd gotten stuck and what mark they thought they'd get. After several minutes, he saw Jemma emerging through the doors. Her eyes were desperately scanning the corridor for Leo and he managed to wriggle his hand up to wave over at her. Jemma managed to fight through the torrent of nattering students and got just close enough to Leo so that she could grab his hand and pull him into the crush.

"How did it go?" Leo asked loudly so his voice could be heard.

"Remarkably well" Jemma smiled. There was no point saying anymore now as Leo would never catch what she said.

They clung to one another as they were propelled along the hallway and out through the double doors into the bright sunlight.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

The sunshine lit up the deep red parasol over their heads as Leo and Jemma sat underneath enjoying their meals at one of their favourite restaurants. It was a bit further from the Academy than some of the other options but it was fairly cheap and served great food, so it was worth the longer journey. They had decided to eat outside on the deck as not only was the sun still shining, the mercury was climbing at an almost alarming rate. Thankfully there was still a breeze which gently blew around the branches of the trees surrounding the deck.

Jemma had opted for a lighter lunch than Leo with a baked potato and tuna as opposed to his burger but she was jealous of his Oreo milkshake, she should have got one of those.

They were sitting in a comfortable silence as they ate their meal. Well, silence wasn't entirely accurate because Leo was noisily chomping away on his burger.

"I still can't believe that Hunter said I was your girlfriend. It's so childish."

Jemma was clearly annoyed at the story Leo had told her of his run in with Rachel.

"It really annoyed me" Leo said hurriedly, he was just taking a breath before his next bite.

"It's just that it'd be weird. We're too close for that" Jemma continued.

Leo's face fell a little as Jemma said that, not that she noticed. Two girls walked past them on their way to a table. The one with the long blonde ponytail and glasses turned her head as she walked between the tables, quickly spotting Jemma and Leo.

"FitzSimmons!" she exclaimed, clearly pleased and surprised to see them.

Jemma swivelled in her seat to see it was her friend, Emily, a computer software engineer who stayed in the room across the hall from Jemma.

"Hi Emily!" she replied, they both seemed as surprised as each other.

"I should have figured you'd be here. Your exam was today right? How did you find it?" Emily asked.

"Surprisingly I thought it was okay, but I don't want to jinx it" Jemma replied as she knocked four times on the wooden table, "How was your final exam yesterday?"

"I thought it was all okay apart from one question that just completely stumped me" Emily sighed, "sorry, I'd love to stay at chat but I'd hate to interrupt you guys and I'm with my girlfriend."

Jemma nodded politely to the quiet, pretty bronzed girl beside Emily.

"You should come by my room tonight to catch up though" Emily continued.

"That sounds lovely. I'll pop by around 8?" Jemma suggested.

"See you then" Emily waved, following the patient, but annoyed, young waiter to her table.

"Anyway, how's your research into Swift's propulsion systems coming along?" Jemma returned her attention to Leo.

"Pretty well. I think I've found what caused Nifty's instability issues so I just need to head over to the lab later today to make a few tweaks. After that we'll be all set for the test run tomorrow" Leo mumbled.

Leo finished off the last of his burger.

"I'm sure that will hold me for a while!" Leo mused as he leaned back in his chair.

"Well I'm full. Maybe we should just get the bill and head to the lab. Hopefully I can help you finish the work on the D.W.A.R.F. before I'm due to meet Emily" Jemma pushed her plate away from her.

The young waiter walked past them to another table and Leo went unnoticed as he signalled that they wanted the bill.

"We'll get him on his way back" Jemma reassured.

They watched as the waiter stood taking the order of a group of girls while he made vain attempts to flirt with them. Two attractive, black-haired 20-something year old boys, who must have been sitting inside, slowly made their way out onto the deck. They put up their arms, shielding their eyes from the blindingly bright sun as they looked around. The strangely acting boys seemed to find what they were looking for as upon spotting the young waiter, the boys split up with one of them made his way back inside while the second stealthily crept towards the waiter.

"We should probably go and pay inside Fitz, it looks like that waiter is about to be the butt of a practical joke."

Leo grabbed his jacket from the chair next to him and stood up. The second boy glared at him from behind a table as he stealthily advanced towards the waiter. Jemma and Leo stopped to watch as the boy pounced at the waiter, knocking him back onto the table causing the girls screamed as their drinks flew all over them. The first boy ran around the corner, grabbed the waiter and together they dragged him around the corner.

"David! Paul! What are you doing?" the waiter screamed.

Jemma looked on surprised but Leo felt more concerned than anything else.

"I sometimes wish we weren't graduating early. We're missing out on pranking new freshmen" Jemma groaned.

"Yeah, it is a shame" Leo agreed, "that was a bit rough for a joke though."

As Leo and Jemma walked back to their dorm rooms, they saw the two boys from the restaurant run past them and collapse onto the steps of the library. They kept looking around them as if they were scared.

"They look terrified" Leo worried "I think I'll go check if they're okay."

Jemma grabbed his arm, holding him back.

"Fitz, one of them has blood on his t-shirt" Jemma stammered.

"I think we should go back to my dorm room and quickly!" Fitz panicked.

"To report this to campus police" Jemma added.

The two boys sat looking dazed and confused as the young pair rushed past.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

The next morning, Leo stood in his dorm room attempting to put on his red spotted tie. After he and Jemma had seen those two blood-spattered boys, they called campus police but hadn't heard anything back. Now he stood with shaky hands trying and failing to tie a knot around his neck when there were four knocks at the door. Jemma was a little early today, they still had 4 minutes before they were due to leave for the library coffee shop. Frustrated, Leo gave up on his tie and went to open the door for Jemma. She stood there smiling, with their usual hot chocolates, in her collared grey top. It seemed they had adapted their tradition.

"Fitz! You need to calm down. The test run is going to go smoothly, I know it" Jemma reassured, seeing that his tie hung untied around his neck.

Normally, Leo was able to do up his tie blindfolded. She thrust both cups into his hands, grabbed his tie and knotted it for him.

"Thanks Jemma" he sighed, looking down at the ground.

Jemma stared into his blue eyes as she held his tie against his white shirt. She felt his heart slow, she had a way of calming him.

"Now let's sit back with our hot chocolate and take your mind off of this test run."

Jemma took her hot chocolate from him and sat down in the desk chair.

One hour later, Leo and Jemma were sitting talking in his room. They looked like quite the pair with their coincidentally colour coordinated clothes. Leo glanced at his watch.

"I think we'd better get going Jemma" he groaned.

Jemma and Leo gathered up their things and left the room. As they walked down the corridor, they ran through a checklist to make sure they hadn't forgot anything. They entered the stairwell and passed Jamie, Leo's old roommate, on the second floor. They had only shared a room in first year because Leo skipping years meant that he was treated as a mature student, which included being given his own room. Jamie had been Leo's first friend at the Academy and had actually caused him to meet Jemma.

In January 2007, Leo and Jamie stood in the lab for 'Holographic Engineering'. It was a two semester long core class for all Sci-Tech students.

Jamie stood about a head taller than Leo, with his coiffed brown hair making him seem even taller. They had met a few years before when Jamie moved into their shared dorm room, two days after Leo. They got along surprisingly well, considering how different they were. Jamie was a huge flirt with his blue eyes and strong jaw doing most of the work for him. On the other hand, Leo was definitely not known for his flirting.

During this particular class, Jamie had found an opportunity to get closer to Emily, Jemma's friend from across the hall. Jamie had been trying to flirt with her for a while but she seemed to be playing hard to get. While Jamie and Leo normally teamed up for practical work, Jamie abandoned his usual partner during that class to team up with Emily. That left Leo alone, without a partner. Fortunately an English girl, with her brown hair tied back in a sensible straight ponytail, saw Leo standing alone at his bench and decided to join him.

"Hello, I'm Jemma Simmons" she smiled warmly, reaching out her hand to shake his.

"Leopold Fitz. Most people call me Leo" he mumbled shyly in response.

They shook hands and Leo could've sworn he knew in that instant that Jemma was going to become a very important part of his life.

"Morning Jamie" Leo chirped.

Jamie didn't respond. He must've not heard him, maybe he had in earphones that Leo didn't see. Leo turned to call to Jamie but Jemma grabbed his arm when she noticed the two boys from last night, David and Paul, coming up the stairs. She realised that not only was the one with the bloodstained shirt still wearing that same shirt but his spiked black hair had been messed up after they had seen him in the restaurant. As soon as Leo noticed the boys, he protectively stepped in front of Jemma as they hovered on the landing.

Suddenly, a yell came from the upper level.

"Now!" Jamie signalled.

David and Paul bounded up the stairs towards Leo and Jemma as Jamie hurried down the stairs behind them. FitzSimmons turned as Emily burst through the door to the second floor. They quickly and instinctively retreated into the corner opposite the door. As Emily approached them slowly and cautiously, Jemma noticed tufts of brown hair on her hands and forehead. Her nails had also grown longer, they were almost like claws.

"Emily? What's wrong with you?" stammered Jemma.

"We are here to kill you" the foursome responded collectively.

As they looked around at the advancing aggressors, Leo and Jemma could see that they all had unusual patches of brown hair on their hands and faces while their fingernails and fingers had become predatory in appearance. Jemma and Leo looked at one another.

"Is it just me or does it seem like we've walked into a horror movie?" joked Fitz.

Jemma scowled at Leo, this was hardly the time for bad jokes. She looked at the foursome, as they slowly advanced upon her, terrified of what was coming. The landing flickered with a blue light but she couldn't tell what it was. The lights probably needed replacing, it didn't matter anyway. She was about to die. She scanned the landing desperately for a way out. Maybe if they managed to distract them for just a second they could escape through the door, onto the second floor.

She looked at Leo and prayed he'd somehow be able to catch on to her idea, after all it was the only chance they had for survival. He nodded and she knew that he had a plan. He reached for her hand, grasping it tight and pulling it along the wall until it was behind him. She then felt something completely unexpected, there seemed to be a hole in the wall. Jemma knew it hadn't been there before but by some miracle, no – because of Leo, it was there now. It must have been that invention he had told her about, a mousehole she thought he'd called it. The laser could cut through anything and help agents escape from situations just like this.

Jemma's thoughts were interrupted by the sharp squeak of the door to the second floor as it opened. The four assailants turned and pounced on a poor student who was emerging through the doorway. Leo took the opportunity to back out through the hole in the wall and pulled Jemma with him. Unfortunately, as he did, he dropped the mousehole. Jemma lay on the ground on the other side of the wall for a second.

"Come on Jemma, we've got to go" Fitz whispered.

"We can't leave that poor boy" Jemma sighed.

"I know it's horrible but there's nothing we can do to help him."

Leo didn't like the idea of leaving the boy either but he knew that it was the only way they could escape. He helped Jemma up from the ground and they ran down the corridor, taking a left at the T-junction. They were in a dead end. Looking across the corridor, they saw the other side was a dead end too. With yesterday having been the last day of exams, most students would likely have gone home or out celebrating. They were alone and trapped. Again!


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

FitzSimmons stood in the dorm corridor desperately looking around. Any second their hunters could come round the corner. They could hide in one of the rooms if they were unlocked but that wouldn't do them much good. The sign on one door 'Austin Collibe – Student Residence Representative' caught Jemma's eye.

"Fitz, in there, I have an idea" Jemma motioned.

As Jemma pushed the door open, Leo pulled the D.W.A.R.F. prototype and a tablet out of his bag. He placed the D.W.A.R.F. on the floor and tapped on the tablet until the small drone propelled into the air. Leo grinned, pleased that his and Jemma's prototype was off to a good start.

"Come on Fitz" Jemma urged.

He dashed into the pale blue walled dorm room and Jemma gently closed the door. After locking the door, she jumped into the desk chair the desktop computer. Leo sat on top of the bed's blue striped duvet, engrossed with flying the D.W.A.R.F..

"Swift is working flawlessly Jemma" he enthused.

"That's brilliant news Fitz but we have more pressing matters to attend to."

"I'm going to try to distract them so we can escape" Leo whispered as he piloted the drone over the heads of their hunters who stared in bewilderment.

"Assuming there must be some chemical controlling their brains, they won't give up until they find us" Jemma replied quietly.

"Do you have a better idea?" Leo retorted.

"Well I thought we could start with finding out what we're dealing with using the S.H.I.E.L.D. database which all rep computers have to be linked to."

Leo was impressed, it was a good plan. Jemma pressed her ear to the door as, behind her, Leo tapped away on his tablet.

"Got it!" she loudly exclaimed.

Jemma immediately went to cover her mouth but a loud crash against the door told them that they had been heard. She had to stop doing that.

"Quickly Jemma!" Leo panicked as he watched the hunters pound on the door.

"The only information of anything like them in S.H.I.E.L.D. records is a file about a 'werewolf' in a facility in Alaska, apparently it's a human who underwent experimentation at the hands of a S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist" she paused for breath, "Fitz, it says here it possesses many abilities of a wolf. If there were experiments on its blood, that means there were samples. Samples someone could've got a hold of."

"Great. So we just need to stop werewolves…" pondered Leo.

He scanned the room hoping to find inspiration. There was another crash against the door as their hunters tried to break it down.

"Stop! I'll come out if you answer some questions - why are you here to kill us?" Leo interrupted.

"We are here to kill you Leo, not your girlfriend" replied Emily, it was strange hearing the sweet girl threatening him.

"Then let her go" said Leo bravely.

"Come out then" came her reply.

"Fitz you can't, they're acting like animals, and they'll kill us both no matter what they say." Jemma stuttered.

Leo looked down at his tablet and piloted the D.W.A.R.F. over to a nearby high ledge, He then turned and sadly looked to Jemma, as if this could be the last time he would ever look at her.

"Jemma, I… I…" Leo struggled to say get the words out, he had to tell her.

"Yes Fitz?" she wondered what he had to say.

"I… hope you come up with a good idea quickly!"

He couldn't do it, he couldn't tell her about his feelings. He reached for the door handle to go out and hopefully spare Jemma's life. Jemma was desperately scanning the room now. Unlike in all the movies, there was no venting duct to crawl through and Leo had lost his handy exit strategy.

"Wait Fitz!" she exclaimed, "see that pipe in the corner?"

Leo turned and noticed that there was a camouflaged plastic pipe running down one of the corners of the wall.

"Yes, what about it?" he asked.

"Well if we managed to expose the cables inside, do you think you could access the one that leads to the manual fire alarm outside?"

"Yes I could" Leo nodded, wiping his brow.

"Those students clearly have some wolf-like traits so maybe they'll have excellent hearing too."

"And if I could turn on the fire alarm, combined with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s security measures, it would overwhelm their sense of sound" he realised, "Jemma you're a genius!"

Leo turned back to facing the door and tentatively leant towards it.

"Eh… I'll be out in just a second, I'm just… gathering my thoughts."

He hoped that would buy him at least a little time.

Jemma never expected to be attempting to destroy plastic insulation inside a stranger's dorm room, especially as she and Leo were meant to be out testing their D.W.A.R.F.. Leo was busy searching the room for something sharp to cut the plastic casing and cables with. There was another crash against the door as he grabbed some scissors from the desk drawer. Jemma looked nervously at the door.

"It'll only take a few more major hits like that" Leo muttered as he went to cut the pipe, "I don't suppose you found a knife anywhere Jemma? I'll need to cut at an angle to avoid hitting all the pipes and seriously electrocuting myself and the scissors won't work."

Jemma rummaged through the bedside table.

"Aha" she shouted as she produced a pen knife from the middle drawer.

Jemma turned sheepishly to look at Leo, she had to stop yelling about discoveries. Leo took the knife and used them along with the scissors to cut a square panel out of the pipe.

Now he had to trigger the maximum-security lockdown and then the fire alarm immediately after.

"Oh great, not only are there about ten wires in here but they're all completely unlabelled. Not even a hint at what's inside!" moaned Leo as he put the knife and cut out pipe on the desk.

There was a crash against the door.

"Fitz, just pick one, they're about to break through the door!" Jemma blurted.

Leo started fiddling about with the wires, trying to pick one. There was another crash at the door and splinters flew everywhere. Leo quickly grabbed two cables.

"I think it's these two" he cried.

As he reached for the knife on the desk he felt something smash against his head and he fell to the floor unconscious.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

Leo awoke in a daze. His head was throbbing and his vision was blurry. What had happened? He had been reaching for the knife to cut the cable when something collided with his head. He slowly sat up and saw Jemma lying on the floor. Immediately the pain in his head was forgotten.

"Jemma!" He managed to groan.

There was no response from her. He made his way over to her and just as he went to check for her pulse, he saw the knife in her hand. She must have cut the cables. It was then that he noticed the deafening sound of the fire alarm. If Jemma had managed to initiate the lockdown before she cut the fire alarm line then they were stuck, albeit safely, in the room. He went to reach for Jemma again but realised he couldn't, if she had been electrocuted then he may get a shock from her too.

"Jemma, I need you to get up now" he whimpered.

There was still no response. If only he was the one lying on the floor unconscious then Jemma would know what to do to save him but Leo had no clue, machines were his expertise, not people, despite him having learned quite a bit of bio from Jemma. Tears filled his eyes.

He closed his eyes as he couldn't look at her lifeless body any longer. Then he heard a gasp, he must be imagining it.

"Fitz?" Jemma's voiced wheezed.

His mind was playing tricks on him but then felt something brushing against his ankle. He opened his eyes and saw Jemma lay there staring at him. She was feebly trying to move but could barely manage it. She must have gotten lucky.

"Jemma! You're alive!" He was elated.

"I knew if I…" she murmured.

"Save your strength, you can explain later" Leo interjected.

Leo knew she needed medical attention, even though she was breathing and able to talk. He reached for his iPad on the bed and started typing and tapping on it furiously. He had to get a message to someone and he had an idea.

"Fitz?" called a voice, muffled by the shrill sound of the fire alarm and the lockdown's metal barricade that reinforced the door. Jemma had triggered the full security protocols for the floor which meant every door and window was fully reinforced. He had seen as much through the camera on the D.W.A.R.F.. Luckily he had flown it to a ledge on the other side of the double doors in the corridor.

He jumped up from holding Jemma's hand and ran to the metal barricade in the doorway.

"In here Agent Weaver! We're in here!" he bellowed.

Agent Anne Weaver was the director of the Academy and an important mentor to FitzSimmons.

"The door has been too badly damaged for us to simply reverse the lockdown Fitz so I need you to stand back. We're going to try to break it down" came the authoritative voice.

"Just give me a minute" he yelled in reply.

He went to the desk and dragged it until it stood between Jemma and the door. Leo then picked up the mattress and slid it until it leant up against the desk. He figured that was enough to protect him and Jemma just in case.

"Okay, ready now" Leo called to Agent Weaver.

He crouched over Jemma to protect her, then closed his eyes. Next came a dull boom and Fitz looked round the mattress at the door to see the metal barricade was still intact.

"Here we go again Fitz!" yelled the woman.

He braced himself again and this time the sound of the attempt to break through the barricade was deafening, it completely drowned out the fire alarm. He looked round to see natural light from the corridor spilling into the room and the shadow of Agent Weaver.

"Come on guys, get in here and take Simmons down to the medibay" commanded Agent Weaver.

She helped Leo up as two men with short hair and dressed in black S.H.I.E.L.D. logo emblazoned uniforms came in and gently took hold of Jemma, quickly escorting her out of the room. As Leo and Agent Weaver followed behind, Leo saw yet another thing that surprised him – Rachel Hunter being handcuffed.

"We found her out here with the students that you warned us about" stated Agent Weaver coldly.

"What are you doing here!?" he yelled.

Rachel glared at him. He knew the answer anyway.

"Jemma was right about the chemicals wasn't she. You injected them. You wanted me dead! You could've killed Jamie, Emily and the others."

The security personnel stepped in the way to block Leo as he hurtled towards Rachel in a fit of rage.

"Leo, we're going to take you to be debriefed and we will keep in you in containment until tomorrow."

Leo and Jemma were escorted in Agent Weaver's office several days after the incident.

"Jemma, I'm so glad to see that you're better and well done in your exam"

Agent Weaver sat down at the seat behind her desk and motioned for Leo and Jemma to sit in the armchairs in front of it.

"And congratulations on your D.W.A.R.F., it's impressive work. Not that I expected any less."

Leo blushed and looked at the ground.

"Anyway, I read the case file and I'm amazed with both of you. I think you should consider applying for field positions" mused Agent Weaver.

Jemma looked over at Leo, clearly surprised by the suggestion. Leo looked like he was about to fall off the seat.

"Really, Agent Weaver, it was mainly Fitz" Jemma modestly replied.

"I disagree Jemma, I think Leo's actions were very impressive but you showed real courage to take his place and put yourself in harm's way. Anyway, there's no Fitz without Simmons."


End file.
